Local minimizers of the interface length functional based on a concept of local paired calibrations

Abstract: We establish that regular flat partitions are locally minimizing for the interface energy with respect to $L^1$ perturbations of the phases. Regular flat partitions are partitions of open sets in $\mathbb{R}^2$ whose network of interfaces consists of finitely many straight segments with a singular set made up of finitely many triple junctions at which the Herring angle condition is satisfied. This result not only holds for the case of the perimeter functional but for a general class of surface tension matrices. Our proof relies on a localized version of the paired calibration method which was introduced by Lawlor and Morgan (Pac. J. Appl. Math., 166(1), 1994) in conjunction with a relative energy functional that precisely captures the suboptimality of classical calibration estimates. Vice versa, we show that any stationary point of the length functional (in a sense of metric spaces) has to be a regular flat partition.